Hybrid Picking: A Quick Overview & Exercise

As I'm sure you know, playing the guitar is much more than just holding a pick and strumming some chords. As we strive to become better players, recreate our favorite songs, and achieve musical freedom, it soon becomes apparent that we need to work on our right hand picking technique. Hybrid picking is one such technique we'll be discussing briefly.

Some other commonly used picking techniques that you have probably heard of are:
alternate picking, sweep picking, or in some cases, no picking!

We need to first learn to use these techniques individually and practice each method with intent,
before we can use them in conjunction with one another.
That being said, it is important that you not only practice these techniques individually,
but know how to effortlessly switch between each technique.

WHAT IS HYBRID PICKING?

Also called chicken picking, hybrid picking is when you use your middle, ring, or pinky (rare) fingers in conjunction with your guitar pick.
It is utilized for quick string crossing, chord picking, arpeggiating, and playing notes quickly and successively. While we don't know who invented this style of playing, rock n roll and country guitarist James Burton is often accredited with being the musician who popularized it.

What Genres and Guitarists Implement This?

Hybrid Picking is utilized by a large span of genres and players including but not limited to:

Blues

BB King*
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Roy Buchanan
Danny Gatton
Jorma Kaukonen

 

Country/ Folk

Brad Paisley*
Issac Guillory
Chet Atkins

Rock/ Metal

Eric Johnson*
George Harrison
Jimmy Page
Kiko Loureiro
Alex Lifeson
Zakk Wylde
Per Nilsson

 *Pictured

What Picks Work Best For This Technique?

Your favorite guitar pick will work just fine!
If you're on the hunt, here are some of our customers favorites that you might like, too: Top 10 Best Guitar Picks

 

Should You Learn to Hybrid Pick?

Hybrid Picking is very economical, because it saves you energy and increases efficiency.
A great benefit of this is it makes playing faster, fluid, and more tonally consistent.
Technique wise, it allows you to alternate strings quickly, and play notes on non- adjacent strings.
For ear training, it also unlocks a wider range of ways to hear how different fingers make the same notes resonate. Is this line played loud or soft? Fast and connected, or short and staccato? What sound do I like the best?
For blues players, it is often used to create a “trill” or a banjo roll sound.

If you would like open up a whole new world of sound just by learning one technique, then I recommend you learn to hybrid pick!

How to Hybrid Pick

Just sit up straight like you normally would, and pick like you normally would,
the only difference is that instead of anchoring your 3 extra fingers or tucking them back into your palm,
your middle and ring finger momentarily hover over on the strings below your pick, ready to strike.

Use down strokes with the pick, and up strokes with your fingers.
You will achieve the best sound when you pick the string with a bit of nail and fingertip.
Your nails don't need to be too long, but just loud enough to strike the strings.

If you need a refresher on how to hold a guitar pick we have an article that could help you: How to Hold a Guitar Pick

 

Beginner Exercise

Use only your right hand, set your metronome to a slow tempo.
When you think you have set it slow enough, make it slower.
We will now assign fingers to each string.

-Guitar Pick (P) with the D string.

-Middle Finger (M) with the G string.

-Ring Finger (A) with the B string.

Exercise 1: P, M, P, M, P, M

Exercise 2: P, M, A, P, M, A

Exercise 3: P, M, P, A, P, M, P, A

If these exercises bore you, then check this one out:

Conclusion

The right hand is where the our music's color, timber and rhythm derive.
Guitarists can often neglect the picking and right hand techniques that distinguish a decent player from an excellent one.
Accuracy in hybrid picking will not only take your playing ability to new levels, but by opening up your ears to hearing when it's used in your favorite songs.
If this technique is new to you, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and try it!
And don’t forget to implement hybrid picking, alternate picking and sweep picking into your everyday practice routine.
Good luck!

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